Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

Behavioural Models for Business Usage: The Case of Online Social Network Users
Akwesi Assensoh-Kodua
Department of Information Technology,
Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
+273735835/0782898210
Corresponding Author: Mannie1111@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Social computing researchers are devoting efforts
to understand the complex social behaviour of
people using social networking sites (SNS), such
as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so as to
inform the design of human-centered and socially
aware systems. In light of this, this paper
investigates the socio-psychological factors
imparting on people to use online social network
for business transaction. Predicting such
intentions through a schematic model promises to
be intriguing, yet it is rear in current researches.
This study dares to capture behavioural intentions
regarding the described phenomenon above. In
order to validate the predictive capability of the
models, an online survey was used to collect 300
useable responses from people who have used
LinkedIn and Twitter social networking platforms
for business transactions at least once, and
analysed with the WarpPLS 4.0 bootstrapping
technique. This result confirms the theoretical
argument that the strength of user satisfaction to
predict continuance intention is strengthened by
trust. This results generally have practical
implications for individuals who desire to offer
commercial services on online social networking
platforms.

KEYWORDS
Business, Customer, ECM, Online Social
Network (OSN), SNS, Participants, Continuance
Behaviour

1.
BACKGROUND
The study of factors determining the
continuance intention of people to use online
social networking (OSN) for business
transactions can be classified into the category
of behavioural science research in the
information
systems
discipline.
The
behavioural science research is a hotbed of

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

information systems, which is concerned with

the underlying theories providing insight that
informs researchers about interactions among
people, technology and organization. The
behavioural science research complements the
design science research to address the
fundamental problems facing the productive
application of information technology [50,
76]. In the current information and knowledge
society, the prospects of gaining competitive
advantage has prompted the revolution of
adopting information and communication
technology (ICT) to improve organizational
efficiency.
As a result, many companies have built high
performance systems relying on internet
applications, such as search engines, ebusiness and online social networks (OSNs),
to improve business performance. The
explosion of business activities on OSN
platforms continues to surge higher, providing
opportunities and perils for a variety of
businesses and, the features of these OSNs
have given rise to social media, Web 2.0 and
more recently cloud based social applications
whereby consumer can ubiquitously access
services provided by vendors. OSN in terms
of membership and usage has been significant
over the last few years and this growth
presents huge business opportunities for the
information age.
However, the problem that needs to be
attended to and which this paper seeks to
contribute in finding answers to is; how to use
social
networking
for
external
communications, customer support and well
defined model for business activities [81].
The quest to address customer support and

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well defined model should bring to sharp

focus; the fact that customers are in constant
lookout and demand for better services and
therefore very mobile.
Whenever users find OSN platform that better
serves their personal needs in terms of
business transactions, they may be inclined to
switch. Therefore, this studies aim at
investigating why users of OSNs use it for
business transactions, as well as how online
service providers can retain their users
[13,26,29] to stick for business transactions
through this medium.
In addressing the above research problem, the
socio-psychological factors that are behind
this stickerbility phenomenon of OSN for
business transactions is of prime importance
and will be investigated and modelled
graphically to depict the relationship of these
factors with OSN continuance intention for
business.
2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Marketers desire to have direct contact with

their consumers, in order to predict their
behavioural intentions for proper marketing,
and one way to do this is through marketing
1:1. This is a marketing strategy that
emphasis on personal interaction with
customers [60] to get enough information
about them. Another way to foster businesscustomer relationship, which many online
businesses have resorted to, is through
technology enabled medium such as social
media to enhance the way they (marketers)
communicate to users. Many companies today
have pages on social networks to complement
the information held about their products and
to get the feedback of consumers about their
products. Consumers on the other hand tend
to relate more to a company after reading
various reviews regarding the products and
services for a better understanding. For
instance, a study by Deloitte and Touche
revealed that 62% of US consumers read
consumer generated online reviews, with a
whopping 98% finding these reviews reliable

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

enough to base their decision on. 80% out of

the 98% above admitted that reading these
reviews affects their buying intentions
(Industry statistics) [61]. Online groups exert
a noticeable influence on the behaviour,
buying intent and implicitly on the purchase
decision of their peers.
The informational society we live in today
influences the consumer decision processes
and product evaluations because social media
provides a new channel to acquire product
information through peer communication and
technology enabled OSNs gives consumer the
power to investigate products and criticise
them among friends and relatives. For
example, social media websites provide a
public forum that gives individual consumers
their own voice, as well as access to product
information that facilitates their purchase
decisions [40] and future intentions. By using
social media, consumers have the power to
influence other buyers through reviews of
products or services used and are influenced
by psychosocial factors such as peer pressure,
bandwagon effects and company or brand's
presence on the online social networks that
they belong to.
2.3
Online
business

social

networking

for

Online social networking (OSN) is the act of

connecting and building relationships with
others online; through the medium of social
media (this makes OSN a subset of social
media). It can take place via many OSNs such
as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or MySpace,
and it simply describes the act of engaging in
a dialogue in a web-based forum. Therefore
social networks are defined in this paper to be
websites which link millions of users from all
over the world with similar interests. Blogs
and YouTube are therefore, atypical (forms)
of examples of social media that are popular
among all level of consumers [17], while
Twitter and LinkedIn - the commercial
version of Facebook [56, 79] are the known
social medias for business [56,59].

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These OSNs are quite different from the

traditional website for business transactions
(e-commerce) in the sense that, for instance,
as shown in table 1 (above) whiles advertising
in the traditional web service is done by its
provider, web service advertisement in OSNs
are taken care of by users via their social
contacts, enabling better use of Web services
because of trust in these contacts [47]. Again,
talking about profile on these platforms, User
profile on the traditional website is built
following regular use of the Web services
whiles User profile on the OSN is built
following regular use of Web services and
social relations that users maintain with
others; relations are either explicit or implicit
[47].
Users are using several online formats to
communicate (e.g., blogs, podcasts, social
networks, bulletin boards, and wikis), to share
ideas about a given product, service, or brand
and to contact other consumers, who are seen
as more objective information sources [39].
The exceptional aspects of social media and
its massive popularity have transformed
marketing practices such as advertising and
promotion [23]. For instance, LinkedIn`s
driving of a high number of users to the
MAZDA6 site and delivering some of the
highest Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
ratings of all lifestyle sites on the plan [63] is
an indicative success story of OSN for
business transactions.
Social media has also influenced consumer
behaviour from information acquisition to
post-purchase
behaviour
such
as
dissatisfaction statements or behaviours about
a product or a company [48], and the last few
years can be noticed as a great period of
influence of companies on online networks.
Social media websites have provided an
opportunity for businesses to engage and
interact with potential consumers, encourage
an increased sense of intimacy with
consumers to alleviate their fears, but above
all build an important relationship with
potential consumers [54]. Many marketers
who have seen OSN as an alternative to
marketing 1:1 believe that organisations

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

should aggressively promote themselves in

the online market [55] and social networks to
allow them to achieve this aim and appear
more attractive to consumers. This novel
channel of market breakthrough prompted
industry leaders to state that companies must
participate in Facebook, Twitter, and
Myspace among others, so as to succeed in
online environments [35]. A brief statistics to
support how these calls may have yielded
some results could be seen as follows:
201 billion videos were found to be viewed
per month on Google sites, 350 million
Facebook users log-in via mobile phone, 2.1
billion Internet users, 555 million websites, 1
trillion video playbacks on YouTube, 5.9
billion mobile subscriptions, 100 billion
photos on Flickr, 71 percent of email traffic is
spam, Apple`s iPad share of global tablet web
traffic is 88 percent. (royal pingdom.com
2012: internet). This certainly presents a
business opportunity for the strong hearted
entrepreneur and the knowledgeable business
man who cares to stay on top of his game.
Being knowledgeable demands a swift
understanding of the compelling factors that
drive people to the OSN phenomenal and how
to manipulate these factors to the best interest
of participating agents.
Accessing and interacting with OSNs (a
feature of Web 2.0) is provided by the
principle of facilitating interaction between
users and computer, using an application
programming
interface
and
software
middleware that are used to gather
geographically dispersed resources [57]. This
makes the phenomenon attractive and easy to
use and OSNs, such as LinkedIn and Twitter,
have played a leading role in this regard.
This study, therefore, sampled people using
Twitter and
LinkedIn
for business
transactions because of growing popularity of
these platforms, for business models [59].
Twitter is a microblogging service that grew
rapidly within three years of its existence. In
that period, it commanded more than 41
million users, over 41.7 million user profiles,
1.47 billion social relations, 4 262 trending

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topics, and 106 million tweets [41]. An OSN

that is used as a facility geared toward career
management or business goals with serious
corporate image could be sighted as LinkedIn
[15].
2.4
Selecting
Business

an

OSN

Vendor

for

Today, with literally hundreds of OSNs,

which seem to have some kind of business
models for their participants, probably the
most challenging issue faced by customers is
the selection of an appropriate vendor. There
are many reasons for limiting the number of
preferred vendors on OSN platform. These
include the pressure to purchase locally,
environmental concerns, product availability
and other factors, which may influence the
decisions of customers, regardless of the
degree of product, performance or
interpersonal satisfaction derived from that
vendor [77].
The reliance on codified knowledge stresses
formal analysis and rationality in decision
making
[22].
Analogously,
product
satisfaction and performance satisfaction rely
on rational analysis, while interpersonal
satisfaction relies on tacit knowledge. Such
tacit knowledge may be developed through
years of experience, is subjective, and is
highly individualised [16]. It may also be
influenced, especially with the advent of ecommerce these days, and may include
knowledge regarding efficient ways of
approaching vendors online.
Participants of OSN may succumb to pressure
from peers to buy products online and may
not be aware that they are applying tacit
knowledge in their decisions [16]. It is
proposed, in this study, that decision makers
use
satisfaction,
trustworthiness
and
especially interpersonal satisfaction, as a form
of tacit knowledge in the decision making
process for continuance purchases, as a
driving force for choosing among otherwise
acceptable alternatives.

3.0

HYPOTHESES AND
DEVELOPMENT

3.1

Perceived trust

THEORY

Trust is considered a multidimensional

concept categorising it into several referents
in an oline settings [30] For instance, 72
classified trust into trust in government, trust
in technology, and trust in e-government web
site whiles 46 and 68 classified trust in the
vendor [46] and group members [46, 68].
Trust in technology and group members are of
interest to this study.
It has been noted that trust in e-business also
incorporates the notion of trust in the
infrastructure and the underlying control
mechanism (technology trust) which deals
with transaction integrity, authentication,
confidentiality, and non-repudiation [52]. 44
state that human trust in an automated or
computerised system depends on three
factors: (1) the perceived technical
competence of the system, (2) the perceived
performance level of the system, and (3) the
human operator's understanding of the
underlying characteristics and processes
governing the system's behaviour. These
factors, in the opinion of this study are related
to the perceived ability of the OSN to perform
the task it is expected to, as well as the speed,
reliability and availability of the system.
Consequently, the following hypothesis is
stated:
H1: Perceived trust in OSNs will positively
influence continuance intention of users to
use OSNs for business transactions.
Based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA)
[20], beliefs directly affect attitudes, and the
higher the level of trust, the more favourable
the attitude [30]. [12] found that trust in a web
site (OSN) is significantly associated with
shoppers attitudes toward the site.
If customers do not trust an OSN, they will
possibly be dissatised with the services
provided by the OSN and their intentions for

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Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

continued patronage could be negatively

affected. This negative radiance of user
satisfaction can potentially be communicated
to seven to fifteen important others. This
statement is supported by a popular saying
that every satisfied customer goes to tell one
to three persons, but an unsatisfied customer
tells seven to fifteen others. The greater the
perceived trust among people, the more
favourable will be the social norm, with
respect to knowledge sharing [14].
Consequently, the following hypothesis is put
forward:
H2: Perceived trust in OSNs will positively
influence the ability of users to succumb to
pressure or to put pressure on others, to use
OSNs for business transactions.
3.2

Social norm

Social norm is related to normative belief

about the expectation from another person.
This could be formed as the normative belief
of an individual, concerning a reference that is
influenced by the motivation to comply with
the referent under discussion [45]. There are
research findings, which provide strong
justification for the relationship between
social norm and continuance intention [5, 43].
Peer influence can arise in settings where
social norms and observed peer behaviour
pressure the individual toward expected
choices [7,51] and as already mentioned, a
growing literature documents how peers
affect performance, friendships and college
students behaviour and attitudes [7,58,79]. 7
hints that, technology has made many old
peers interactions virtual and enabled new
ones online.
The following
proposed:

hypothesis

H3: The ability of users

pressure or to put pressure
OSNs, will positively
continuance intention to
business transactions.

is

therefore

to succumb to
on others to use
influence their
use OSNs for

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3.3
User satisfaction
The relationship between user satisfaction and
continuance intention is well supported by
several research findings [4,67,80] and it is
well documented that when users are satisfied
with an IS they will continue to us it.
This premise leads us to the following
hypothesis of OSN continuance intention:
H4: Users satisfaction with OSNs will
positively influence their continuance
intention to use OSNs for business
transactions.
Since user satisfaction is an important
determinant of continuance intention, it could
be implied that a dissatisfied user will not
only discontinue with the use of OSN, but
may influence other users that are deemed
important to him/her. This behaviour, of users
influencing others or being influenced by
others, is often called social norm, subjective
norm, peer influence or bandwagon effect
[33,36 ]. Extant studies on customer
satisfaction scarcely address the influence of
satisfaction on social norm, creating a strong
justification for further investigation [28]
This important premise leads us to the
following hypothesis:
H5. Users satisfaction with OSNs will
positively influence their ability to succumb
to pressure or to put pressure on others to use
OSNs for business transactions.
Customer satisfaction reflects in an overall
customer attitude towards a service provider
or an emotional reaction to the difference
between what customers expect and what they
receive, regarding the fulfillment of some
need, goal or desire [17,24]. Ultimately,
customers will be expected to raise
satisfaction with services that are offered by
an OSN when they trust the OSN [36]. The
trust would develop when customers have
confidence in the integrity of service
providers [78] and would decide to do
business with OSN of their choice, because

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they are satisfied with that platform [69].

There are studies which suggest that customer
satisfaction has influence on perceived trust
and vice versa [17, 18, 36, 37, 70].
Consequently, the
hypothesis is stated:

following

research

H6: Users satisfaction with OSNs will

positively influence their perceived trust in
OSNs for business transactions.
3.4

Perceived behavioural control

The TPB is widely applied to explain the

impact of the behavioural decision-making
process, of which perceived behavioural
control (PBC) is a predictor of behaviour
[3,71]. PBC is the extent to which one
believes to have adequate control over his or
her behaviour [1]. In essence, the inclusion of
PBC into this OSN model allows us to
generalize the model. Many researchers have
performed numerous empirical evaluations of
TPB in psychology literature, to discover that
PBC is a combination of two distinct, but
related components of self-efficacy and
controllability [2, 9].
Self-efficacy reflects ones conviction in his
or her ability to independently perform an
intended behaviour, while controllability
refers to ones perceived control over external
resources needed to perform that behaviour
[2]. These two components have been shown
to be associated with user satisfaction and
continuance intention [19, 28, 74].
The below hypotheses are therefore stated:
H7: PBC over OSNs will positively influence
users satisfaction with OSNs for business
transactions.
H8: PBC over OSNs will positively influence
continuance intention of users to use OSNs
for business transactions.

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

4.0

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.2

Research method

The research model was designed from an

existing template of surveymonkey and pretested among 43 students who have ever used
OSN to undertake business transactions
before hosting on the web. The research
model were formulated in such a way, that
only people using OSN to transact business
would find it meaningful to answer, as it
addresses key and technical concepts not
common to unfamiliar respondent.
The model asked, the participants a series of
pre-established questions with a limited set of
response categories, meant to disqualify
intruders. A 5-point Linkert scale rating, as
indicated earlier on, was used, ranging from
(1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree, to
measure the relative importance of constructs.
Additionally, the service of survey agent, who
has a database of respondents specifically for
this targeted sample population, was used to
send the web address for the model to his
respondents. The survey, whiles on the web
and through the web link address, allowed the
researcher to monitor respondents through the
IP address accompanying all responses,
ensuring respondents were within the targeted
group.
4.2.1 Respondents
procedure

and

sampling

Data were collected from online buyers and

sellers who have accounts with Twitter and
LinkedIn, and are members of the above
social networks. A sample population of 307
[6] was collected, with 7 disqualified due to
various inconsistencies. Physical evidence, in
the form of printouts of responses, were
collected and filed for reference during
analyses and write ups.
The online survey was administered to
respondents who use OSNs to buy and sell
products, as an example of OSN business
transactions. Although users of other OSNs
were accommodated in the survey, the

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emphasis was on Twitter and LinkedIn

because of their growing popularity for
business models [59]. Online surveys have
several advantages such as allowing for fast
response, lower cost, hard to reach subjects,
and vast geographical boundaries, as opposed
to traditional, paper-based surveys [8].
4.2.2

Surveys

In business research there is great use of

questionnaires [65]. This is explained by [32]
as The method of collecting information, by
asking a set of pre-formulated questions, in a
predetermined sequence, in a structured
questionnaire, to a sample of individuals
drawn so as to be representative of a defined
population. This method was deemed
appropriate to solicit information from people
who visit Social Networking Sites (ONSs)

because such users of ONSs are widely

dispersed but can be reached with technology
such as Web 2.0.
This method was selected, due to its low cost
and time efficient nature. Another benefit of
using this method is that it allowed targeting
of a larger audience, without territorial
boundaries, rather than a narrow selection;
yielding important, quantifiable data.
4.2.3

Survey Model Used

Using a questionnaire was an ideal method for

this contemporary study, as it works best with
standardized questions, which does not leave
much room for different interpretations [65].
The targeted audience received details of the
survey model through the use of electronic
mail, asking them go to a website for
participation.

The selection, by using a digital format over a

traditional format (i.e. mail/web), was a wellconsidered decision, as the former has a
higher level of cost efficiency, can reach a
wider audience and the data are more easily
transferable for analysis purposes, Again, this
allowed a real-time collation of results, as this
study could observe participation directly
from the web site (while the latter is
expensive, time consuming and has a very
low rate of response).

WarpPLS 4.0 displays the relationship

between latent variables in a form of plotted
graphs. The graphs below, display the latent
variables standard values, which warrant
interpretation in light of changes in standard
deviation values. Since a 5-point Likert scale
was used to measure the intensity of each
construct, a mean score of 2.5 indicates a
neutral response, while a mean score of 1
represents an extremely negative response and
5 an extremely positive response.

The design and content of the questionnaire

was deemed very important, as it can
determine the response rate [65]. The
questions were developed considering the
research questions and the literature review.
The final questionnaire had 10 close ended
questions with a matrix of options under each
question, and divided over 10 categories,
giving respondents a more realistic
impression and creating a better overview of
ONSs.

Table 5.9 shows the correlations, means, and

standard deviations for the indicators of all
latent variables, while table 5.10 shows
variables means and standard deviations. The
calculated means indicate that respondents
favour the use of OSN for business
transactions based on trust more intensely (M
= 0.311) than the respondents who favour SN
and US (M=0.247) and (M=0.202),
respectively. While respondents showed PBC
to favour US (M=0.568) strongly, in
determining their behavioural intention for
OSN, on its own, it showed no force to using
OSN for business transactions (0.116).
Respondents indicated satisfaction based on
trust of OSN for business, to be more intense
(M=0.602) than that of SN (0.411), unlike the
intensity of PT to SN.

Results and discussion

Warped and linear relationships between
latent variables

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Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

Table 5.9: Indicator correlation matrix for OSN

Table 5.10: Latent variables means and standard

deviation

Variables

PBC ->
OSN-CI
PBC -> US
PT -> OSNCI
PT -> SN
SN -> OSNCI
US -> OSN-

Sample
Standard
Mean(M) Deviation
(SDEV)
0.115911 0.100147
0.567736 0.106409
0.310866 0.109766
0.316200 0.102467
0.247155 0.122545
0.202160 0.097687

CI
US -> PT
0.601851 0.099061
US -> SN
0.411444 0.091508
OSN-CI (OSNs continuance intention), PBC
(perceived behavioural control), US (user
satisfaction), SN (social norm), PT (perceived
trust), SDev (standard deviation)
Hypothesis 1 (H1) proposed a positive
relationship between user satisfaction and
OSN site use for business transactions. This
turned out to be a significant relationship
(=0.127, p=0.0292), supporting hypothesis
H1.

Figure 5.2: User satisfaction and OSN continuance intention plot

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Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

As evinced from Figure 5.2, although the

relationship is positively supported, it is not
linear and begins to intensify at
approximately -2.70 standard deviation to the
right of the mean. In terms of a 5- pointLikert scale, it equals 0.366 when the mean

(M=0.311) is added to one half of a standard

deviation (SDev=0.110). In other words, this
graph shows a nonlinear relationship, in
which ONS use intensity for business
transactions, begins to enhance satisfaction at
a 0.366 Likert scale point threshold.

Figure 5.3: Perceived trust and OSN continuance intention plot

The next variable that displayed a significant

relationship (most) with OSN, is hypothesis 4
(H4). It proposed that, perceived trust in
to use OSNs for business transactions, and
also showed a significant relationship to
support H4. The significant level is =0.363,
p=0.0042, and this practically means that for
every 0.42 percent increase in social network

OSNs will positively influence continuance

intention
of
users
site use intensity, there is supposed to be a 36
percent increase in trust level, towards the
OSN.

Figure 5.4: Social norm and OSN continuance intention plot

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Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

H6 is another significant relationship that

emerged in this study, showing a positive
association between SN and OSN (=0.246,
p=0.0453). Figure 5.4 shows that, after
passing the mean at -3.50 on the 5-point
Likert scale, the greater the use of OSN sites
for business transactions, the more users
became influenced by social norms, until
somewhere around -1.58, where the influence
starts yielding an increase in a diminishing
fashion. Practically, it means that the majority
of OSN participants for business activities,

who turned out to be young (26-35) according

to this study, for every 4.5 percent of pressure
exerted on them by their peers and their social
network cycle of friends, there is a 24.6
percent result that they yield to this influence,
until such a time that they trust the site and
therefore, the pressure from friends then
begins to yield little influence. Thus, the
strong positive relationship between these two
factors should give practitioners clues to
appropriate
policy
formulation
and
implementation.

Figure 5.5: PBC and OSN continuance intention plot

The last variable that showed no significant

relationship to OSN for business transactions
is H8. Thus, PBC over OSNs will positively
influence continuance intention of users to
use OSNs for business transactions (=0.10,
p=0.2265). The graph in Figure 5.5 shows
almost zero influence of PBC on OSN-CI at 3.76 mean of PBC. This means, when users
decide to do business on OSN, equipment or
access points to these OSN sites are not a
problem at all. It is, however, worth noting
that, although the relationship is not
significant, OSN use for business transactions
starts to demand availability of these
accessible tools at a certain level. This
threshold appears to be around 0.17 standard
deviation to the right of the mean of the PBC.

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This level, in terms of the 5-point Likert

scale, is calculated as (M=0.12) +
0.5(SDev=0.10), equalling 0.17.
The graph, though showing a nonlinear
relationship, starts to demand PBC to enhance
OSN continuance intention at a 0.17 Likert
scale point threshold. It means that, when one
decides to transact business on a social
network, initially, tools such as computers
and the like will not hinder the operation, but
as the intention to continue using these sites
as the choice of business medium increases,
these gadgets will become necessary, in order
to shape the behaviour to continue use.

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5.5
Models fit
The strength of the measurement model can
be demonstrated through measures of
convergent and discriminant validity [25].
Convergent validity is normally assessed
using three tests: reliability of questions,
composite reliability of constructs, and
variance extracted by constructs [21].
Discriminant validity can be assessed by
looking at correlations among the questions
[21], as well as variances of and covariances
among constructs [34].

(APC), the average R-squared (ARS), the

average block inflation factor (AVIF), the
goodness of fits (GoF), the average adjusted
R-square (AARS) and the R-square
contribution ratio (RSCR), to indicate how the
model is good. Each of the model fit metrics
is discussed according to [38]. Based on the
results depicted in Table 5.5, the OSN model
has a good fit. The values of APC and ARS
are significant at a five percent level, while
AVIF is still lower than five. This concludes
that a good fit exists between model and data
[38, 64].

The overall model fit was assessed using six

measures of the average path coefficient
Table 5.8: Model fit and quality indices

Fit index
Average path coefficient (APC)
Average R-squared (ARS)
Average block VIF (AVIF)
Goodness of Fit (GoF)

Model
0.356
0.471
3.213
0.591

Average adjusted Rsquared(AARS)

R-squared
contribution
(RSCR)

0.467
ratio 1.000

Recommendation
Good if P<0.001
Good if P<0.001
Acceptable if <= 5, Ideally <= 3.3
Small >= 0.1, Medium >= 0.25, Large >=
0.36
Good if P<0.001
Acceptable if >= 0.7, Ideally = 1

Business implications
Although this study looked at only one aspect,
customer satisfaction is said to be composed
of multiple components. These components
include satisfaction with the product (product
satisfaction) [27]; the supplier's performance
(performance satisfaction) [66]; and the
relationship with the individual salesperson
(interpersonal satisfaction, also referred to as
relationship satisfaction) [49]. Understanding
these differences could be useful to both OSN
vendors and practitioners, to better understand
decision-making processes and explain why
different users, given similar information,
select different OSNs.
The indirect influence of PBC on OSN
continuance
intention
through
user
satisfaction, the greatest coefficient factor
(=0.642) suggests that when infrastructures,
needed to access OSNs, are within reach (user

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

reach), the user satisfaction level rises and

users would intend to continue using OSN for
business transactions. Findings from this
research add confirmation to the important
role that technology plays in solving
numerous customer problems. These findings
are consistent with previous offline research,
where customer participation in OSN was
shown to lead to greater satisfaction [10] and
higher expected benefits from OSN.
The notion that customers actively participate
in the process of co-creating value with firms,
is attracting increasing attention from
academia [62]. Based on the strong influence
of user participation in OSN found in this
study, the current research can be viewed as
adding value to existing knowledge and
extending this stream of academic research in

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Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Digital Information Processing, E-Business and Cloud Computing, Reduit, Mauritius 2015

a new direction (i.e. doing business with

OSN).
The concept of PBC has been discussed to be
the means by which an individual can access
a technology and the confidence with which
he or she is capable of performing a given
This again supports [42] who find that the
influence of PBC on continuance intention is
insignificant in research conducted on college
students. This could be attributed to the
computer and knowledge of Internet services,
which are now common skills among the
youth, who believe they would be able to use
OSN for business transactions, regardless of
circumstances. External control factors, such
as financial resources, might be more
important for younger users, as opposed to
internal control factors, such as abilities and
skills [73]. With the upsurge of electronic
learning these days proving to be the highest
mode of learning, it could probably take the
youth only a few seconds to master
transacting business on OSN platforms.
It is worth noting that, trust in OSN is not the
same as trust on the web (e-commerce). The
notion of stickerbility for a particular social
organisation is based on trust among members
of the social grouping that the individual
belongs, and this trust is capable of exerting
pressure on peers to buy from the same OSN
platforms that these referent others belong.
This trust is built among members so as to
observe the social norm of the group and
enjoy acceptance from members of the group.
Trust in traditional website is based on the
organisation in question from which the
individual intends to buy from. It is based on
website design and the information provided
regarding the product or service the individual
intend to patronise, derived from constant
visit to the sites. This type of trust is fragile as
it correlates to the number of frequency of
visit. OSN trust built among members is
sustainable as this relationship is capable of
transcending the boarders of the social blog to
long term relationship.

ISBN: 978-1-941968-14-7 2015 SDIWC

behaviour [3]. In addition, this implies the

perception of volitional control or the
perceived difficulty towards the behaviour
affecting the intent [11]. Yet, the findings of
this research' proved that PBC is not
significant when it comes to directly forming
intention.
5.12 Limitations
Online surveys generally have some intrinsic
limitations and this study is no exception.
Respondents to the survey were self-selected,
and may have their own agenda for
participating in the study, rather than being
randomly or scientifically selected. Moreover,
if the data were self-reported, there is no
guarantee that participants would provide
accurate information [8]. Future research
studies should take the above limitations of
the survey study into account.

6.3

Conclusion and Recommendations

A social business does not simply sell

products, but also customer experience and
satisfaction. In conclusion, this implies that
the more users become satisfied, the more
they trust the seller and vice versa. In turn,
user satisfaction affects their post-expectation
and their future behavioural intention, such as
repurchase intention. Building user trust is
obviously the most essential mission for
doing business on OSN according to this
study, because there are no standard and
universally acceptable regulations and
policies to safeguard user interest. The
purchasing decision of a user is considered as
trust related behaviour [53, 75], purely based
on the trustworthiness of the OSN vendor.
6.2

Recommendations

Researching OSN has gained prominence in

recent years. However, the majority of these
works concentrate on the antecedents of
continuance intention and continuance
behaviour without giving any consideration to
the OSN, Web 2.0 and cloud computing
models fit for business activities, in terms of
technicalities and regulatory policies. The

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researcher could not find any such

comparable model, so could not compare to
drawing a rigorous expository analysis. This
study, therefore, recommends further studies
in this light as many more are switching from
brick and mortar business structures to OSN.

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